U.S. President Joe Biden told Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy over phone on Monday that his administration will soon quickly provide additional arms to Ukraine once a bill authorizing related funds clears Congress and becomes law.

“President Biden shared that his administration will quickly provide significant new security assistance packages to meet Ukraine’s urgent battlefield and air defense needs as soon as the Senate passes the national security supplemental and he signs it into law,” the White House said in a readout of the call.

Biden was referring to the $61 billion aid for Ukraine that the House passed Saturday. The measure, now bundled with other foreign aid funding, will be voted on as a comprehensive national security supplemental appropriations bill in the Senate this week, with passage all but certain and Biden pledging to sign it as soon as it reaches his desk.

“President Biden also underscored that the U.S. economic assistance will help maintain financial stability, build back critical infrastructure,” the readout said, adding that the economic assistance will also “support reform as Ukraine moves forward on the path of Euro-Atlantic integration.”

Zelenskyy said on Telegram that the new aid from Washington is expected to strengthen Ukraine’s air defense as well as its long-range and artillery capabilities.

The Ukrainian president also discussed with Biden the work on a bilateral security agreement and the preparations for the Global Peace Summit in Switzerland slated for mid-June, he said.

U.S. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said on X on Saturday that senators have reached an agreement to vote on the national security supplemental on Tuesday.

Source(s): CGTN

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday vowed to ramp up military pressure on Hamas, despite the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) warning last week that one child was being killed or injured every 10 minutes in the Gaza Strip.

“With one child killed or injured every 10 minutes (in Gaza), above anything else, we need a ceasefire. It is the only way to stop the killing and maiming of children,” UNICEF Communication Specialist Tess Ingram said during a press briefing in Geneva on April 16.

With no breakthrough yet in truce talks between Israel and Hamas, Netanyahu pledged to intensify the military crackdown in Hamas in a video address. “We will strike it with additional painful blows – and this will happen soon,” he said without elaborating on the time and place.

“In the coming days we will increase the military and political pressure on Hamas because this is the only way to free our hostages and achieve our victory.”

The prime minister’s latest remarks came a day after U.S. lawmakers approved $13 billion in new military aid to Israel, even as global criticism mounts over the dire humanitarian crisis in the besieged Gaza Strip.

Netanyahu also condemned an anticipated U.S. sanction against a unit of its army forces. “If anyone thinks they can impose sanctions on a unit in the IDF (Israel Defense Forces), I will fight it with all my might.”

The Biden administration is slated to announce sanctions against the IDF’s Netzah Yehuda battalion for alleged human rights abuses against Palestinians in the West Bank, which would be the first time the U.S. has ever taken such a step.

Israeli war cabinet minister Benny Gantz also urged U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken in a phone call to reconsider potential sanctions against an Israeli military unit, his office said on Sunday.

Gantz told Blinken that the move would harm Israel’s legitimacy in time of the ongoing Gaza conflict, asserting that “it has no justification because Israel has a strong and independent judicial system.”

Two U.S. officials familiar with the situation said the U.S. announcement could come as soon as Monday, AP reported.

The officials told AP that about five Israeli units were investigated and all but one had been found to have taken action to remedy the violations. The Leahy Law, named for former Senator Patrick Leahy, bars U.S. aid from going to foreign military units that have committed human rights abuses.

The U.S. review was launched before the Israel-Hamas conflict and not connected to recent Israeli actions inside Gaza or the West Bank.

The incidents that were the subject of allegations took place in the West Bank and mostly occurred before the Israel-Hamas conflict, the outlet said.

Before the Gaza conflict, violence had already been on the rise in the West Bank and it has risen since with frequent Israeli raids, Palestinian street attacks and settler rampages in Palestinian villages.

Source(s): CGTN

Countries in the Middle East have voiced their concern over military escalation in the region after Israel on Friday allegedly struck sites near the city of Isfahan, central Iran, in what appeared to be its military response to Iran’s recent retaliatory attack.

In a statement, the Egyptian Foreign Ministry called on the two sides to exercise the utmost restraint and to fully comply with the rules of international law and the UN Charter, warning against widening the conflict and instability in the region.

Egypt stressed that it will continue to intensify communications with all concerned and influential parties to contain the ongoing escalation and tension.

In addition, the Iraqi Foreign Ministry said in a statement that the ministry “is constantly monitoring the tension in the region,” expressing its deep concern about the attack targeting Isfahan on Friday morning.

The ministry said that the escalation must not distract attention from the destruction and loss of innocent lives in the Gaza Strip, renewing its call on the international community to perform its duties and work to stop the suffering of the Palestinian people, according to the statement.

Jordanian Deputy Prime Minister Ayman Safadi on Friday stressed the need to reduce the dangerous escalation in the region and reiterated that “Jordan will not allow it to be turned into an arena of conflict between Iran and Israel and to endanger its security and the safety of its citizens.”

Safadi, who also serves as the Jordanian foreign minister, added on social media platform X that “the current escalation only serves to divert attention away from the Israeli aggression on Gaza, stopping which must be the priority.”

The Israeli attack came after Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps confirmed Saturday that it had launched missile and drone attacks on Israel in retaliation for earlier airstrikes by Israel on April 1 on the Iranian consulate building in the Syrian capital of Damascus, which killed seven Iranians.

So far, Israel has not officially acknowledged the strikes on Isfahan, while Iran has not publicly accused Israel of carrying them out.

Meanwhile, the Syrian Foreign Ministry on Friday condemned the Israeli strikes on Syrian military sites earlier in the day as a flagrant violation of Syrian sovereignty and a threat to regional stability.

In a statement, the ministry warned that such actions could escalate tensions in the region, potentially leading to a broader conflict, and urged the international community, including the UN Security Council, to condemn the attack and take decisive measures to halt the “crimes” committed by Israel.

In the early hours of Friday, the Israeli military launched a series of airstrikes targeting Syrian air defense sites in the southern region, according to the Syrian Defense Ministry. The strikes caused material losses, while no casualties were reported, it added.

The attack was also confirmed by the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which reported that more than six Israeli aircraft were observed flying intensively in southern Syria.

The radar battalion responsible for monitoring the airspace, located in the east of Syria’s Daraa province, was targeted, the war monitor added.

Source(s): CGTN